AppLovin craters after report from CapitalWatch alleges it’s a money-laundering operation for “transnational criminal kingpins”

AppLovin is tumbling in premarket trading on Tuesday after financial research agency CapitalWatch published a report on Monday calling the company “the ultimate monument to 21st-century new-type transnational financial crime.”

“AppLovin serves as the ultimate exit for asset laundering/diversion by transnational criminal kingpins,” the authors wrote, alleging that the growth of its advertising business comes in part from illicit cryptocurrency funds routed through its platform.

AppLovin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Sherwood News.

This is far from the first report to question AppLovin’s business practices.

Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research announced short positions in the ad tech firm last February in research reports alleging that AppLovin’s operating performance was a function of “systematic exploitation of app permissions” as well as taking data and gaming the ad platforms of other tech giants, particularly Meta. In October, reports surfaced that the SEC was investigating AppLovin’s data collection practices, as were a number of state regulators.

The allegations raised by CapitalWatch are a whole different kettle of illegal fish.

Anything is possible. But if I were hypothetically trying to launder a bunch of money, I likely would not try to do so through a publicly traded entity domiciled in the United States that’s subject to much more regulatory oversight and scrutiny than the average global firm.